Hi All
I was wondering what is considered a fair number of horses per groom. We have 8 horses. All but 2 are retired. All are in stalls. And 2 sheep. Our groom receives a fair wage, plus free housing…in a brand new cottage, on premises. He works Tues-Sun AM. He has Sunday afternoon and Mondays off…and any free time he needs beyond that. He just lets us know if he needs it and we fill in - no questions asked. He does no tack and we do all night checks. Typical day 8:15am - 4pm. Only 1 horse is ridden per day.
What is the typical number of horses per groom?
I was a groom years ago and that sounds like a lovely job. When I was a groom I received one day off a week, which was voided if there was an emergency, a horse show or a sick horse. I also did all tack and was on call 24/7. That position included all care, including mucking, grooming, working with babies and young horses. Schedule was basically six a.m. until six p.m. with night check late.
Another position I had there were 25 horses. Six day work week. No mucking. This position included all handling, turnout, grooming, preparing of 13 field hunters on hunt days, exercising. That job didn’t provide housing, was roughly 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. during non hunt season and about 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. during hunting. The owner fed and did night check.
I’d say the number of horses per groom does depend on what the groom is doing. If the retirees are being brushed off, and not given a full groom daily then it does make a difference. Adding riding makes a difference with time.
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So he works about 44 hours/week? Figure out what is a fair wage (I’m guessing around $15/hour), then look at what your cottage rent is worth, plus what you pay him. I assume he’s not riding? Feeding, mucking stalls; grooming horses; turn out; blanketing; feeding? I’ve known a few grooms, and they worked LONG hours. Many made less then minimum wage, but got tips from the clientele. Most also clipped, braided, cleaned tack, etc - and most were working for trainers, so it was grooming and tacking up horse after horse after horse. BUT - in most cases, a different employee mucked stalls and fed. On show weekends, grooms are often working until midnight, bathing, braiding, doing the night check.
8-10. Depends. You offer a very good job environment, even doing the mucking, turnout, grooming, feeding 8 head in an 8 hour day is no way an overload for a home barn with only one being ridden. You get into show strings and serious training barns, it’s more like 6-8 max with no mucking.
Venture to say in this set up, 10 wouldn’t be unreasonable. More then that is possible but pushing it.
